Use An AlienConverter Or An AlienDestroyer To Convert Documents Or Destroy Files On Your Mac

There is something about the word alien. It brings to mind people streaming across a border, leaving an old life behind, searching for a new life.

Or, it could mean a foreign life form bent on destroying the world as we know it. I came across a couple of Mac apps; elegant and useful tools which do a little of both. One converts documents from this format to that format. And one destroys files completely.

Convert Documents? Or, Destroy Documents?

Remember the Ori of Stargate SG1? Taking a page from the history of Christendom, the self righteous Ori converted the masses of various planets to their religion. If they didn’t convert, they were destroyed.

For Mac users with documents or files that need to be converted from one format to another, it’s AlienConverter. If you need to destroy those files completely, it’s AlienDestroyer.

AlienDestroyer is what you think it is. Except it doesn’t destroy aliens. It’s a Mac app that destroys files. Wait. Doesn’t a Mac already do that when you Empty the Trash?

Yes. And no. Files emptied in the Trash remain on your Mac and can be recovered with the right app. Even files erased by OS X’s Secure Empty Trash (which erases the files many times) can be recovered.

One Alien app destroys. The other Alien app gives life. Both are easy to configure and simple to use. The end result is a document with a new life (format) and a new app. Or, it’s a file that you don’t want anyone else to have and it gets completely destroyed. Choose wisely.

5G? Meh!

About Ron McElfresh

My first Mac was the 128k model (from 1984, so I'm old). I live and work in Honolulu, Hawaii. Read more of my articles here. Read more Mac stuff on McSolo, or a little thoughtful nonsense on McElfresh.org.